Activity #182: Try a food 5 times

In my house, dinner’s not over till the fat man throws a significant amount of food on the floor. Usually a spoon or bowl, too. I have no idea if this is rejection of the food itself or of the activity we English speakers call “eating.” Anyhow, before you decide that your kid hates sweet potatoes or prunes, make sure she tries the food about five times.

I think The Experts say that it takes a few tries to acquire the taste for something new, and with a 10-month old, it might be the unfamiliar taste or it might just be a temporary protest against eating.

The side of a Gerber jar claims 10 times is reasonable; I think they just want you to buy more food, though.

I have also been known to give the same food for dinner as lunch. In our culture it’s perfectly common to say “Not Mexican for dinner; I had a burrito for lunch!” Babies are not that discriminating.

I’ve noticed that if the little dude eats while sitting on the floor (instead of in his chair), then he’ll actually pick up and eat the food that he throws aside. Kinda gross, sure, but keeps post-meal cleanup to a minimum.

Don’t sweat the small stuff. Keep offering it. Don’t bother keeping track of the ‘times rejected’. Just keep offering a variety of foods. Babies aren’t making a deep decision. Could be the temperature, texture, color, smell and how they feel at that moment of that day. Bear in mind these guys put EVERYTHING in their mouths to investigate it – mouths have far more nerveendings and sensory inputs than even fingertips! They may be tasting something you can’t or responding to something you can’t detect – level of salt in the cooking water, different species of canned veg, who knows.

This is SMALL STUFF. Ignore the details on food consumption. Just offer a variety and be sure they’re gaining appropriate weight and head circumference for their age!